The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael
Lake Union, 2026
Agent: Jill Marr
A young woman, perceived dead, plots to reinvent herself in a gripping historical gothic about secrets, superstition, and murder by the bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport
South Carolina, 1853. Lillian Carmichael, privileged daughter of a disgraced Charleston family, is due to be hanged for the murder of her sister when fate gives her a second chance at life.
After a catatonic episode on the long walk to the gallows, Lillian is declared dead and entombed in the family mausoleum. She awakens days later, buried alive, and flees to the Lowcountry marshes to survive on her wits and reinvent herself. All the while, a series of exsanguination murders holds the terrorized city in thrall?as do the superstitions that the vanished Lillian is some craven creature, resurrected and out for blood.
Lillian finds sanctuary in a crumbling former plantation and a friend in Kate O’Malley, a charismatic actress adept at fashioning new identities. The two form an intimate and powerful alliance, but as the body count rises, the manhunt for Lillian reaches a fever pitch. It will take both women’s cunning for her to escape the gallows again, and to find her freedom, Lillian must first cross paths with the real killer and confront her own family’s deepest, darkest secret.
Accolades:
“Kennedy is a mesmerizing force in this gothic tale of murder, sex, and self-discovery. The dark, marshy world of 1850s Charleston bursts to life as our heroine fights to survive and clear her name of the mysterious murders plaguing the city. But when she meets a charismatic stranger with secrets of their own, she’s faced with astonishing revelations, making her question everything.” - Heather Levy, Anthony-nominated author of Hurt for Me
“A heart-pounding ride from start to finish, The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael balances equal parts gothic, horror, and thriller to bring you an incredible fresh take on the classic vampire tale that will leave you spellbound and reeling. Kennedy continues to produce literary masterpieces, making this book a must-read in 2026.” — Maria Tureaud, author of This House Will Feed
“Set in a richly detailed, pre-Civil War Charleston, this deliciously gothic tale twists through cobbled streets, shadowy crypts, and teeming marshes, seducing the reader with deaths that are not deaths, discoveries of literal and figurative disguises and deftly written reversals. Kennedy is a maestro of subversive psychological suspense.” --Emily Carpenter, author of Gothictown
“A bloodthirsty low country gothic, steeped in salt and sorrow, where the boundaries between the living and the dead grow thin. In Paulette Kennedy’s The Two Deaths of Lilian Carmichael, Charleston’s nights breathe with hidden menace, death proves an unreliable narrator, and the pluff mud always remembers. At its heart this is a tale of class, race, sexuality, and love, in which the strict costumes of gender loosen, and freedom is found only by confronting the ugliest of truths.” — Andrew K. Clark, author of Where Dark Things Grow and Where Dark Things Rise
“A lush, blood-soaked southern gothic elegy for survivors. Kennedy crafts a striking tale of subsistence on the fringes, where monstrous femininity and dark desire entwine beneath the moonlit shadows of the Charleston salt marshes. Perfect for fans of Alexis Henderson with a haunting examination of what it means to live—and die—on your own terms.” —Lindsay Barrett, author of The Dravenhearst Brides
“Eerie, laced with tension and a heady sort of atmosphere I was both loath to leave and itching to be released from.” --Jessika Grewe Glover, author of Bromeliad House